The Vote Nobody Expected to Win
One hundred days after the United States and Isr*el launched joint strikes on Iran, the US House of Representatives voted 215-208 to block President Donald Trump from ordering further military action without congressional authorisation. Four Republicans broke ranks to make it happen: Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan, and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
The resolution is largely symbolic. It still needs the Senate, and Trump would almost certainly veto it. His administration has questioned whether the War Powers Act is even constitutional. But symbolic votes carry real weight when they happen inside your own party, and this one followed three previous attempts that failed. The difference this time was that the war had gone on long enough, spread far enough, and cost enough that four Republicans decided they had seen enough.
As Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro put it after the vote: the measure sends “an unmistakable message on behalf of the overwhelming majority of Americans who have opposed this war since it began.”
The Ceasefire That Keeps Breaking
The vote came as every front in the region was simultaneously fracturing.
Iran struck Kuwait’s international airport with drones and missiles on June 3, killing one person and injuring 63. Flights were suspended. The terminal caught fire. Iran called it a self-defence strike after the US military disabled a Botswana-flagged oil tanker heading toward an Iranian port. Trump told reporters that the ceasefire was holding and that a deal could happen “over the weekend.” Kuwait’s airport was still burning when he said it.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi had already stated the position clearly: “The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.”
There was no ambiguity in that message. Isr*el is still bombing Lebanon. The ceasefire, in Iran’s view, is already broken.
A Second Chokepoint at Risk
The economic stakes of the standoff became significantly more serious this week when Iran’s Quds Force commander threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, if Isr*el’s operations in Lebanon and Gaza continued. The commander said the Axis of Resistance would make conditions there “comparable to the Strait of Hormuz.”
Oil prices jumped more than $6 a barrel on the announcement alone.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil flows, has been effectively closed to major shipping for months. The Bab el-Mandeb carries roughly 10% of global trade. If both chokepoints become impassable simultaneously, the economic consequences for energy prices, food costs, and shipping across Asia, Europe, and Africa would be severe. Ordinary people pay the difference at the pump, at the supermarket, and on their heating bills.
Gaza Beyond Every Line
While the Iran ceasefire frayed, Isr*el was quietly redrawing the map in Gaza.
Netanyahu directed the Israeli military to expand control of the Gaza Strip to 70% of its territory, well beyond the Yellow Line agreed under the October 2025 ceasefire, which placed Isr*eli forces at roughly 53%. By late April, Isr*el already controlled an estimated 64%, and Netanyahu said publicly: “First 70%, we’ll see” when an audience member called for complete control of the strip.
More than 72,775 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pressed by lawmakers on June 2, was direct: “We have a plan, it doesn’t call for that.” The Trump administration’s 20-point plan for Gaza envisions a non-Hamas governing entity and eventual reconstruction, not an expanding Isr*eli military occupation. The gap between what Washington says it wants and what Isr*el is doing on the ground has become impossible to ignore.
Netanyahu’s Government Is Also Collapsing
There is one more layer to this story that most coverage has missed.
While Netanyahu expands military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, his own government is falling apart at home. On June 1, the Israeli Knesset voted 106-0 in favour of the first reading of a bill to dissolve parliament, a move triggered by ultra-Orthodox coalition partners furious over Netanyahu’s failure to pass legislation exempting their community from mandatory military service. Snap elections are now expected between September and October 2026.
Netanyahu is conducting expanding wars on multiple fronts while his coalition dissolves beneath him. The man making decisions about Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran’s red lines may not be in office by the end of the year.
The Real Story Is Control
This is why the House vote matters beyond procedure. Congress is not debating legal technicalities. It is asking whether one leader, any leader, can manage a war that has now spread across Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Gaza, and the corridors of Washington itself.
Trump started this war without asking Congress. His own party just told him, on the 100th day, that it wants it to stop. He will almost certainly ignore them.
The war will continue. The question is what it looks like on day 200.
By Shizza Farooqui
SOURCES
Reuters | AP | NPR | Al Jazeera | The Washington Post | Times of Israel | CNN | PBS NewsHour | Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro press release (June 3, 2026) | Times of Israel liveblog (June 1-2, 2026) | Arab News (May 20, 2026)
